Technology and the Future of Colleges and Universities

Poststructural Pub
1

I just had a conversation with a colleague of mine about technology and the future of colleges and universities. Some items:

Traditional colleges and universities are (1) steadily increasing the availability courses that can be taken entirely online. (2) “Live,” traditional classes are increasingly configured so that some significant portion of students’ and faculty participation in those classes is done online.

100% online degree programs were disreputable a few short years ago and are now being offered by reputable, traditional colleges and universities.

The traditional large-hall lectures are increasingly obsolete. The tradition: Dozens of students travel to a large room, at a designated time, to hear an instuctor (who may well be a graduate student) provide content, mostly one-way, and with little interaction. The value of this model for undergraduate education is declining. Large public universities that rely on this model are more threatened by the pressure to change than are smaller, liberal-arts colleges that are already set-up for smaller and more interactive classes.

The value of the “well-rounded” college education with a traditional degree is being questioned. Technology firms, for example, wonder if they should encourage a 19-year-old computer whiz to go and earn a college degree, or if they should hire her on the spot.

Some colleges, rather than adding new degree programs, instead are adding “certification programs.” The latter puts emphasis on what this student needs to have learned to have this particular skill-set, as opposed to a “well-rounded” education.

Colleges and universities may only survive if they (a) foster and MARKET the nonacademic benefits of attendance, in residence, at a college/university campus and (b) promote, and market a model of education which incorporates technological means of delivery of some content, but also includes small-group, interactive, learning communities. They will need to able to show that there is some benefit to the combination of these, as opposed to learning online with no live interaction.

And so on…

Discuss?

2

So the liberal arts are on the way out in America, their great bastion?

That stinks.

Education is more than just vocational training, I think.

3

Agreed. But, liberal arts colleges may have a harder time selling the concept. The good news for them is that they are already accustomed to the kind of small-class, interactive methods of learning, which may be more marketable as part of the new higher education experience (technology + small interactive classes) than are the big universities that put 1000 kids in the room with one lecturer.

4

Digging your current avatar, by the way.

5

I went the “non-traditional” route 30 years ago…

I first went to a 2 year college (that was part of the University of Cincinnati) for an associate degree in “Science Technology”. The emphasis was on chemistry and biology, in particular hands on lab work. Besides my degree, there were similar programs in Environmental Science, Animal Tech and the 2 year Nursing students also took a lot of the same classes.
The only non-science or non-degree classes we needed were a year of English, 2 quarters of Issues and Problems (history) and 3 quarters of Psychology.

I then went to work full time, and went back to Evening College to get my BS in Natural Science. I basically had to take all the liberal arts stuff that I didn’t need for the AS degree - there was very little science or math that I didn’t already have (other than Organic).

I’ve been exposed to the “dry lab” concepts out there, and I, personally feel there will always be a place for actual, hands on lab work in science. A buzzer going off just doesn’t have quite the same impact as when you add sodium metal to water, you know?

I do think there is a place and a student (Noah is one of them) that would definately benefit by not having to sit in a classroom with 500 other people. But taking classes completely on line is also not for everyone - it really self dicipline to do what is needed and do it well.

6

Online classes only appeal to me in certain contexts. Many working RNs, e.g., get most of their masters degree work done online. That seems useful, and would be in other fields where the education is primarily being pursued by folks whose lives are already full with family, work, etc.

Can I imagine an 18 year old, fresh out of high school, wanting to sit in front of the computer in Mom&Dad’s den, taking freshman English and Biology 101? Sadly, I can. But it ain’t gonna happen at my house.

7

There are of course some benefits with this development. Groups of people that didn´t have the economial means to send their sons and daughters to the university or college will possibly have the means if the cost of an educations is reduced in the near future.

I you are very social you´ll probably en up climbing the walls with that kind of education, but some people might actually benefit from it. Some not so very social individuals who find life at school or at college frustrating and stressful may find it more peaceful and quitet to study at home in front of their computer or with their books.

I would have missed all the interesting discussions with my professors and fellow students. But even in those days some courses, and essay writing, were done alone mostly at home or at the library.

8

Ear training + Musicianship online? I think not. at least not the real kind of musicianship class.

Attending a master class / artist recital via skype? nah.

Percussion methods phone -in?..ditto…

SO, some things will have to remain the same.

9

I had two bachelor degrees and 30 years of work experience under my belt when I decided to take an MBA through an online program, (at Capella University). It was a fast-paced, fully-loaded curriculum, and I worked very hard. I don’t much care if some fool out there doesn’t consider my degree legitimate. My employer does, however.

That said, I’m not sure I favor an online option for first-time college students. Learning people skills is very much a part of the educational experience, and sitting all day in front of the computer doesn’t give you that. (Need proof…? :laughing: )

10

I agree, and this goes along with Dale’s remark about colleges having to market the nonacademic benefits of attendance.

I will say there’s no way I could have gotten any part of my college experience online, including the academics. I went to a small liberal-arts college. Okay, some of the courses I took for distribution requirements that I just paid lip service to, I could have taken sociology, economics, and possibly music history. But even some of the distribution requirements, I had to have quite a bit of face-to-face contact with the professors. An art course on color – you can’t do that on a monitor. And all the physics and math and chemistry. I interacted a LOT with the professors and did a large fraction of the work outside class with other students.

And nevermind the other aspects. Dissecting a dogfish with my roommate and digging a hole in the snow and “burying” it to have it found in the spring. Sneaking out into the woods and cutting down Christmas trees with Swiss army knives. Intramural sports, various things best not mentioned. You can’t do any of that online.

11

I hardly ever attend class. That’s why I nearly fail every semester. :blush:

12

well…that was the best part :blush:

13

It still is.

14

always was…nothing new here :laughing:

15

I develop and support online learning tools for a university so I feel I should probably comment on this.

We have a huge number of online and distance learners in or system, mostly doing courses relating to the oil industry and management. These courses use the same learning materials as their on campus counterparts and have the same lecturers. The teaching staff regularly arrange online chat sessions with their students and try to deliver the same course online as you’d get walking in our front door. We think they do that very successfully.

Our on campus students are encouraged to use the virtual learning environment (VLE) as much as possible to complement the classroom based teaching they receive. They can harass tutors, submit coursework, download lecture notes, take part in teamworking excercises all in the online learning areas for each course. It’s a valuable tool for the lecturers and students alike and is now considered our most critical IT application in the university. We’ve been asked to help local councils with their online learning for schools after a manager from the education department saw our VLE being used by his kids. It’s something that all teaching establishments are making more and more use of.

To address the second point, I don’t think you can compare the online learning experience offered by ourselves and other established Universities with the discredited degree courses offered online in the past. Those courses weren’t discredited by the manner in which they were delivered, they were discredited because of the content and the quality of the course. The big difference now is that we’re delivering the same course online that we deliver on campus, or as close as we can possibly manage. So the student should get the same quality of education and employers will see the same result at the end (hopefully).

16

Purely online learning doesn’t suit me at all. I don’t have the concentration levels or attention span to be able to sit in front of an online computer and work without getting distracted. I can see how it would be beneficial to others for whom concentration isn’t an issue, or who have mobility issues or live too far from their programmes of interest to attend in person.

For me, I must physically be located in an area that means “work” in order to concentrate on studying - whether that be a classroom, a library, or some other study area away from the distractions of home. I’ve always been that way - which for one particular semester resulted in my being at university every day from 8 AM to 10 PM so I could finish all my homework before going home!

17

It’s a long time since I got my degree, and the idea then was that you had to attend the lecture and make your own notes on the fly. There was not always a book you could fall back on if you were sleeping off your hangover or playing football instead of going to the lecture. The only way you could find out what had gone on was to plead with a fellow student to let you borrow their notes, and very few would agree to this unless they knew that your absence had been for a good reason. In any case, it was very difficult to make sense of someone else’s scribbled take on the lecture. Attending a lecture and coming away with an effective set of notes required a study skill (i.e. the ability to concentrate without flagging, to summarise quickly in writing and to discriminate between what was essential and what was merely peripheral) that I always regarded as extremely valuable, but it seems to be one which, today, is regarded as dispensable. I don’t think that education has got very much to do with acquiring information. That’s just training.

18

I think that’s still important, but the ability to have a copy of the slides in front of you is great for use in tutorials or while revising. They can act as reference points to the students more detailed notes.

19

The thing that concerns me most is the university libraries. Here, even the public libraries defer to the university to store everything, so when I’m researching anything, I am constantly referred back to the university. As I am not an alumni there, they grant me very limited access. But what are these on-line learners supposed to use for study if there are no university libraries close to hand? How are they supposed to do any research? There’s very little available on-line compared to what is locked away in university libraries, or through the inter-university library loan program. I can’t see home-learning applying to any branch of learning that requires a library.

djm

20

We have a system of putting up electronic reference material, controlled by our library. In fact I’ve just developed a new application to do this for our VLE and put it live an hour ago.
It can’t replace the full library service but it helps. Our library service also has it’s own website with it’s own resources and links to other reference sites.

At the end of the day concerns like this are legitimate and all the institution can do is continue to develop it’s online services to try and give as much of the full university education experience to online users as possible.